


Undoing the Worst Nightmare

by Red_K_Alex



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fix It Fic, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-09 21:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11677053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_K_Alex/pseuds/Red_K_Alex
Summary: “Wait, wait, you mean I just now flew Fort Rozz into space?”“Yeah…?”“So Mon-El’s pod hasn’t even crashed yet? I haven’t met the President? I haven’t met Lena? Or become a reporter?”“No, Kara, none of those things have happened. You’re in the DEO, you’re still Cat Grant’s assistant, I don’t even know who Lena or Mon-El are.”“Wow, some dream I guess…”orThe events of Season 2 were just a bad dream and Kara does everything she can to avoid them happening again





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](https://redkrypto.tumblr.com/post/163436341554/hhello-everybody-yes-id-like-a-fic-where-kara) text post by Hayley from Haulet from Redkrypto. Because no one deserves the horrors of season 2
> 
> Also I realized while writing that I changed tenses halfway through because of course I did. I tried to go back and catch them all but let me know if I missed any.

Kara’s eyes flew open as she jolted awake. Her hands automatically went to her neck to check and see if her mother’s necklace was still there. When she was met only with the material of her suit her heart sunk. She let out a strangled sob. 

“Hey, hey, hey, Kara, it’s alright,” the familiar voice of her sister said. Alex scrambled over from the chair she was sitting on. 

Kara eagerly leaned into Alex’s waiting arms, burying her face in Alex’s stomach and sobbing. Alex rubbed her back, gently, waiting for Kara to calm down enough to tell her what was going on.

“Hey, honey, it’s ok. You did it, you saved everyone.”

“I didn’t though. I couldn’t save him and now he’s gone and I was stupid, Alex, I was so stupid and I gave it away like it was nothing, as if it wasn’t the only thing I have of my home.”

“Kara, what are you talking about? Who’s gone?”

“Mon-El. The invasion, we had to send him away and I gave him my necklace. Why did I give him my necklace?”

“Kara, I don’t know who that is or what you’re talking about. I have your necklace right here, see?” Sure enough, Alex reached into her shirt and pulled out the necklace. “You gave it to me for safe keeping before you saved the world. And then I saved you, with your pod. You’re not the only badass in the family.”

“Wait, wait, you mean I  _ just now  _ flew Fort Rozz into space?”

“Yeah…?”

“So Mon-El’s pod hasn’t even crashed yet? I haven’t met the President? I haven’t met Lena? Or become a reporter?”

“No, Kara, none of those things have happened. You’re in the DEO, you’re still Cat Grant’s assistant, I don’t even know who Lena or Mon-El are.”

“Wow, some dream I guess…”

“Yeah, well, you were out for a while after we brought you back down. You lost a lot of oxygen.”

“Mmm. Wait, that means you haven’t met Maggie. Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok? I also don’t know who Maggie is or why you feel the need to apologize for that.”

“I… nevermind. I’m just glad I’m ok and you’re ok and there’s no Daxamites invading and I still have my necklace. Can we just… Can I go home?”

Alex kissed the top of Kara’s head. “Of course you can.” 

They’re met with cheers and applause as they walk out of the medbay into the main area of the DEO. Kara felt dazed as she accepted the hugs and praise everyone gave her. She felt numb as Alex led her to the car, empty as she slipped out of her Supersuit into some comfy pajamas. She barely acknowledged Alex’s hand on her shoulder when she curled up arms around her legs and chin resting on her knees. 

Alex opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw the pleading look in Kara’s eyes. Tears threatened to spill over and Alex knew when her sister needed to talk and when she needed to be left alone to think. Still, Alex wanted to comfort her, so she gathered Kara into her arms. 

Eventually, Kara leaned back into her and dozed off, snapping her head up every few minutes to try to stay awake. 

“Alex,” she said finally. “I’m scared to fall asleep. I don’t want to have that dream again.”

“Do you want me to stay here tonight?”

Kara nodded. “Please?”

“Of course.” 

Kara made and drank an entire pot of coffee as Alex got ready for bed. They curled up together and Alex slowly drifted to sleep.

Kara stayed up the entire night.

\---------

A few days later, after several sleepless nights, Kara finally felt well enough to let her friends and family throw her a “thank you for saving the world” party. The dream lingered at the back of her mind, fear creeping in as the party continued exactly the way it did in her nightmare, but Kara chose to ignore it focusing instead on the loving family she had surrounding her.

When she kissed James, she may have held on a little tighter than she normally would, but he didn’t seem to mind. Kara finally allowed herself to smile into the kiss. It was exactly what she’d been wanting ever since she met James and she let that thought play over and over as his arms wrapped tighter around her. 

They’re interrupted by Alex yelling, “Hey, Kara, come do the champagne trick!”

Kara giggled. She took James’s hand and dragged him into the dining room where the rest of her family stood.

“To Supergirl,” J’onn said when they’ve all got their glasses raised.

“No, no, no wait! To family,” Kara said with a smile. “Love bonds us all.” They clinked their glasses together. Kara finally allowed herself to relax as she leaned further into James. Alex raised her eyebrows and gave them a knowing look. Kara wanted to be embarrassed but found she couldn’t. She finally felt like she belonged. 

Kara pushed the dream entirely from her mind and relaxed. 

And that was when a flash of light sped by the window. 

Her heart sunk into her stomach as she and J’onn launched out the window to chase down the streak of light. 

_ Please don’t let it be him, please don’t let it be him,  _ she thought over and over as the Kryptonian pod came into view. Not bothering to wait for J’onn, she yanked the roof off of the pod.

Despair crept in when she saw what was inside. The dream was real. 

The ugliest white boy she’d ever seen slept in the cockpit. Kara felt like she could almost see her reflection in his shiny, giant forehead. She was sure that if she could she’d be met with her own face twisted in disgust and anger. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara talks about her dream, James and Kara have their first date, and there's trouble aboard the venture that looks like a job for Superman AND Supergirl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo-wee sorry about the wait guys my life has been CRAZY with stressful family visits and car wrecks and friends visiting and name changes and overtime 4 weeks in a row. 
> 
> This chapter was also a really hard one because I'm definitely just going to veer wildly off canon at some point but I actually rather like the first two episodes of season 2 so I'm trying to bring the feel of those while keeping my own plot points while not just.... taking all the events and dialogue from the show. The next few chapters should come more easily and I'm going to try to update every Tuesday or Wednesday from here on out. Try being the operative word.

_ This can’t be happening,  _ Kara thought to herself.  _ Any moment now I’m going to wake up  _ again _ and he won’t be here and I won’t have had to go to space or anything everything will just be normal.  _

Kara squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. No such luck. 

She knew she had to play her cards carefully. She couldn’t just go accusing people she hadn’t technically met of stuff they hadn’t technically done. 

So she let J’onn take him to the DEO and didn’t say anything when they brought him to the med bay. She tried to act normal; tried to do what she would do if she didn’t know about him.

Alex, of course, saw right through her. She dragged Kara to a private room and sat her down. 

“Ok, spill, what’s up?”

“What do you mean?” Kara said as she avoided making eye contact. 

“You’re lost in thought and you’ve got that crinkle between your eyes.”

“Stupid crinkle,” Kara muttered. 

Alex arched an eyebrow at her.

“Fine. You’re going to laugh though. It’s that dream again, the one I had when I woke up after taking Fort Rozz to space? That’s the guy. That we found in the pod just now it’s  _ him. _ ”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Kara, it was just a dream you can’t keep letting it get to you like this.” 

“Alex, I’m starting to wonder if it was less of a dream and more of a warning.”

“That’s… ominous. How would that happen though?”

Kara shook her head. “I don’t know who or why but I know it’s possible. I got really good at controlling my dreams in the Phantom Zone; it’s possible an alien with telekinetic powers could do the same only with my dreams.”

“J’onn?” 

“No, he can’t read Kryptonian minds, remember? Someone or something stronger.”

“Well, let’s just keep an eye on this guy and you try to remember if anything else happened, yeah?”

“Yeah, ok.” 

“Now come on; the Venture launch is starting soon and I know you want to watch that.”

“Actually, James and I are going on our first date!”

Alex hummed noncommittally. “Oh, ok.”

“What?” Kara said furrowing her brow.

“What what?”

“You’re doing that thing where you say, ‘okay,’ when you’re not ok.”

“Because  _ you’re  _ doing that thing where you pretend to be excited and over enthusiastic about something because you’re not really excited about it but you’re trying to convince yourself you are.”

“I’m excited! This is me, excited!”

“Mmm-hmm I’m real convinced.”

Kara stuck her tongue out at Alex. “Anyway, I should go get ready,” she said.

\-----

Thirty minutes and several panicked wardrobe changes later found Kara frantically using her super speed to try to find the perfect outfit for her first official date with James. She finally decided on a cute pink sundress when she heard a knock on the door.

“Perfect timing,” she muttered as she rushed - at a human speed - to answer the door.

“You look amazing,” James said, smiling as he stepped into her apartment.

“Oh, this old thing? Psh, I’ve been wearing this all day.”

James smiled and shook his head. “Anyway, I wasn’t sure what kind of day it was so I brought…” He produced a box with a brown bag on top, “Pizza  _ and  _ potstickers!”

Kara’s dreamy smile turned into a look of pure hunger as she lunged for the food. “YEESSS! Potstickers and pizza is my most favorite meal.”She walked into the kitchen and set the food on the table.

“I’m surprised you don’t have the Venture launch on,” James said.

“Oh, that’s not a big deal,” Kara said trying to keep the hint of disappointment out of her voice.

“Kara, it’s ok. You can put it on.” 

“Well, maybe I’ll just turn off the sound.”

Kara and James fell into a pleasant conversation about the space program. Kara waved her hands around, cheeks bulging with food, as she explained some of the science behind the project and how it compared to the technology on Krypton.  James nodded and smiled as she talked, enraptured with the way her eyes lit up when she was passionate about something. But when her smile turned into a worried frown, panic in her eyes at something she’d seen on the TV, he whirled around.

Kara grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

“-getting word that there’s a problem on board.” A pause. “Yes, it seems there’s been an explosion, but we have no further information at this time.”

Kara sat in silence, stunned for a few seconds before James gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“Looks like the world needs Supergirl,” he whispered softly.

“I’m so sorry,” Kara said as she turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“It’s ok. We’ll reschedule. Now, up, up, and away!”

Kara gave him one last grateful smile before she launched herself out the window.

\-----

Supergirl knew she probably should refrain from smiling when people were in danger, but every time she heard her name spoken with that mixture of relief and reverence - like one of the pilots just said it - she couldn’t help but grin. For the first time since she came to Earth she finally felt  _ important _ , like she mattered in the grand scheme of things. She had a purpose and could finally protect people like she’d always been meant to do.

The guilt from leaving James on their date quickly vanished as she let her mind drift into saving people mode. She assessed the situation as fast as she could to try and find the best course of action for keeping the most people safe.

Problem 1: one of the engines on the back of the ship was clearly on fire.

Problem 2: the ship was re-entering the atmosphere quickly enough that the entire thing soon threatened to catch fire.

Problem 3: there were people on board who were panicking and would definitely die if she didn’t act soon.

She decided the first thing she needed to do was slow down the ship so it didn’t crash before she had a chance to put the fires out. Making sure to fly by the windows so the passengers inside could see that she was there, she made her way to the nose of the plane and started pushing. 

It was still coming down fast. 

She grunted with the effort as she put more power into her flight.

_ You can do this. You flew all of Fort Rozz into space. This is nothing in comparison.  _

The ship was smaller and did weigh less, but the jets were still on and the power of the ship itself combined with the force of gravity definitely did not make her job any easier.

Which was why when she noticed a red and blue blur speeding to her side her annoyance passed quickly. As Superman came up next to her she gave him a genuine smile.

“Hey, cuz,” she said.

“Hi. Need some help?” He flashed her that shiny mega-watt smile he had spent so much time perfecting.

“Sure. This looks like a job for Supergirl  _ and  _ Superman!”

Despite her rather complicated relationship and feelings toward him, she had kind of always wanted to work with him on a rescue. Something this big and important was the perfect chance.

Supergirl redoubled her efforts of slowing down the plane while Superman flew to the back. His freeze breath had always been stronger than Kara’s, so he was able to put out the fire in the back faster than she could. With a wink he grabbed the tail of the ship and pulled back. 

Between the two of them, they slowed the plane down just in time. Carefully, they lowered it to the ground and blew out the remaining fire.

“That was awesome!” Supergirl said as the adrenaline started to wear off. She swept Superman into a hug that would have been bone-crushing to anyone else. “I mean, that was terrible, but it was awesome. The two of us, working together. I’ve dreamed of this moment ever since I first became Supergirl.”

Superman returned the hug as best he could with his arms pinned to his side. Supergirl laughed and released him so she could yank of the cabin doors to start letting out passengers.

“Is everyone ok?” she and Superman said at the same time. She had to suppress another giggle.

“I think so,” someone inside said. Several people were coughing from the smoke, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be any major injuries. 

“Thank you Supergirl. Superman,” a little girl said as Supergirl lifted her out of the wreckage.

Together, they helped everyone out of the cabin. Just as they were finishing, emergency response teams pulled up to the scene.

“You did good here,” one of the police officers said. “What would we do without our Superheroes?”

“Our pleasure,” Superman said with a wink. With one last glance around, he smiled and lifted off into the air.

Supergirl waved at the crowd before taking off after him. 

\------ 

When they landed in the DEO, Supergirl began her usual adrenaline filled post mission debrief ramble, but stopped mid-sentence when she realized no one was actually listening. Instead, everyone’s gaze seemed to be fixated behind her.

_ Oh. _

She cleared her throat. “Right, um, everyone!” she stood in her best hands-on-hips superhero pose. “This is my cousin, Superman. As you… probably all already know. She coughed awkwardly and walked to the front of the room where Alex and J’onn stood.

Faintly in the background she could hear Superman greeting everyone and their awestruck whispered responses.

“Oh, brother,” she muttered under her breath. She did smile, though, when she saw Winn step forward, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he stared at Superman.

“That’s- he’s- it’s. Super- Superman,” he said. Superman locked eyes with him and winked. Winn’s eyes widened. He stepped forward, hand outstretched, almost touching Superman’s jaw, as if he couldn’t really believe this was real.

Superman chuckled when Winn’s hand made contact, rubbing his chin.

“It’s. You’re real this is. I have so many questions I.” He dropped his tablet and raised his other hand to cup Superman’s face.

Supergirl gently pried his hands off and brought them back to his side. “Winn. Breathe.”

“I, yes, right,” he coughed. He stayed frozen and Alex pushed him out of the way.

“Alex,” Superman said as he opened his arms for a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” 

“I heard about Jeremiah. If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word, yeah?”

“Thank you Cl-” Alex glanced around, remembering the other agents. “Thank you, Superman.”

J’onn stepped between them and Superman’s eyes grew cold. Supergirl exchanged a confused glance with Alex.

“Superman,” J’onn said, his voice even steelier than usual.

“J’onn.”

They stared each other down. 

Unable to handle an awkward silence, Supergirl interrupted them, “I, uh, I just brought Superman here to show him our mystery guest.”

“Right,” J’onn said, his voice still cold. “Follow me.”

Superman gave Supergirl a smile that looked more like a grimace and fell into place behind J’onn.

“What’s with those two?” Supergirl whispered.

“Beats me,” Alex said. A sly grin appeared on her face. “You’re cousin smells terrific.”

Supergirl gagged and rolled her eyes, “Enough.”

Alex just looked at her with a shit-eating grin.

\-----

“Do we think he’s Kryptonian?” Superman asked. He had spent the last few minutes poking and prodding the mystery man’s skin while X-Raying him. 

“We don’t really know,” Supergirl replied. “All we know is that he’s not from Earth, obviously, and that he came in a Kryptonian pod. So probably?”

_ No,  _ Kara thought,  _ If my dream was right he’s not Kryptonian at all.  _ She didn’t want to bring up the dream with Alex around, though. 

“Well, at least we know he’s not an android. He’s definitely organic.”

“His skin is impenetrable, like ours, at least to all the things we tried to stab into him,” Alex said.

“I have Winn trying to figure out a way to access the data from where his pod has been,” J’onn said. 

“Good idea. For now, let’s just keep an eye on him.”

“Already planning on it, Superman. My organization is professional, after all,” J’onn said, his tone near a growl.

“Oookay, well, that’s settled then, good teamwork everyone,” Supergirl said, trying to break the tension. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked Superman.

“What’s up?” he asked when they had found an empty room.

“I don’t… really know how to start this, um, have you ever had like… intense dreams?”

“I think everyone has.”

“No, not like normal intense dreams like…. Really detailed dreams that end up coming true later?”

“I… can’t say I have, no. Why?”

“Oh, um, no reason,” Supergirl said. She twisted her cape between her fingers and avoided meeting his eyes.

“Kara,” he said, his voice accusatory yet patient.  

She sighed. “Fine, ok. I had this dream before I woke up after I took Fort Rozz to space, you know? And it felt so real but when I woke up Alex was there and none of it had happened. Only then the pod with this guy crashed to earth, just like in my dream and I’m scared the rest of it is going to come true.”

“Well what else happened? If it is, I don’t know, a warning or an omen or an attack or something maybe if we have the knowledge beforehand we can put a stop to it.”

“I don’t know, really, I forgot most of the details almost immediately. All I remember is this weird feeling about that guy. Like I remember he was terrible to me and rude and selfish and constantly belittled me and talked down to me, but then the only real detail I remember from the dream is kissing him, giving him my mother’s necklace, and sending him off crying. I don’t want to do that again.”

“Ok, so we make sure you don’t. I won’t let anyone treat my cousin like that. Besides, you’re dating Jimmy now anyway, right?”

Kara gasped. “I am and I just realized I totally abandoned him on our date,” she groaned. “I should go talk to him.”

Clark pulled her into a hug. “I think I’m going to stay in National City for a while, so we can talk more about this later, yeah?”

“Yeah, ok. I love you.”   
“Love you too, cuz. Now go talk to Jimmy.”

\-----

James was still in her living room when she finally made it back to her apartment. 

“Hey, Kara,” he said with a soft smile as she opened the door. “Want me to reheat some of this food we have left?”

“Thanks, but that’s ok I’ll just heat vision it. Look, I’m sorry for flying out on you like that.”

“It’s ok. I’m dating Supergirl and my best friend is Superman. It happens.”

“Still,” Kara shrugged. “So we’ll do a re-do, yeah? We’ll pick a time and a place and make a plan and execute it to completion.”

“Sounds romantic,” James said, shaking his head and trying not to smile. 

“I know, I know I just,” Kara picked up a pillow off the couch and twisted it between her hands. “I just really want this to work.”

“I know,” he said. “Listen, I have to be up early tomorrow and you’ve had a long day. Get some rest and I’ll see you at work and we can make plans then, ok?”

“Ok, sounds good.” She hugged him and stood on her tip-toes to place a kiss to his cheek. “Have a good night, James.”

“You too, Kara.”

Kara sighed and threw her head back against the couch. She had wanted this - wanted  _ him -   _ for over a year now, so why did it feel so hard and awkward to make anything happen?

\-----

Blackness and stars. That’s what Kara saw when she opened her eyes. She wasn’t in bed like she wanted or expected to be. Instead, she found herself floating in the abyss of space.

She wanted to panic, wanted to thrash around and gasp, but some gut feeling in her told her to stay still.

**_Kara Zor-El,_ ** a deep voice boomed. It felt like it was coming from everywhere around her and inside her all at once.

“Ok, creepy,” Kara whispered. “What do you want?” she said out loud.

**_To warn you._ **

“So the dream? From before the pod crashed? That was a warning?”

**_Yes, but you didn’t listen._ **

“But I did! I’ve been stressing about it ever since! I just don’t know what to do!”

**_Whatever it takes. Rid yourself and this planet of Mon-El from Daxam, Kara Zor-El, or the consequences will be dire._ **

Kara felt the world start to shake and distort around her.

“Wait!” She shouted frantically. “Is that who the guy in the pod is? Mon-El of Daxam? Why does he have my last name if he’s a Daxamite? How do I get rid of him? I can’t just throw a sleeping guy back into space for no apparent reason!”

**_That is for you to figure out, Kara Zor-El. Just remember, don’t fall for his charm. You have been warned._ **

In a blinding flash of light, Kara found herself falling out of her bed and onto the floor. 

“Ow,” she said, even though a fall that small couldn’t really hurt her. “What the heck was that?” The cold feeling of dread that she had been pushing aside washed over her again. “It was a warning, an omen. Crap. What do I tell Alex?”

\-----

Kara decided to not tell anyone about the second warning, for the time being. She already felt a little on edge with everything going on, she didn’t need to add fear of a guy currently into a coma into the mix. 

Cat Grant was on her ass about finding a new job, J’onn and Superman were still at each other’s throats, and her and James still hadn’t found a good time to reschedule their date.

She was on her fourth sticky bun of the morning when Alex called her.

“What?” she said, perhaps a tad more snippy than was absolutely necessary.

“Jeez, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Actually I woke up on the floor,” Kara muttered.

“What was that?”

“Sorry, nothing. Sorry for snapping at you. What’s up?” 

“Call Clark, you’re both going to want to hear this. 

\-----

“So we’ve been digging deeper into the incident on the Venture,” Alex said in lieu of a greeting as Supergirl and Superman walked into the DEO.

“Hi to you too, Alex,” Supergirl muttered.

Alex glared back. “And we discovered that one passenger mysteriously didn’t show last minute.”

Supergirl crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow in a gesture for Alex to continue. 

“You’re not going to like this,” Winn muttered from behind them.

“Well,” Superman said. “Who was it?”

 

“Lena Luthor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got sick of looking at this and didn't edit or re-read any of it so if it Sucks let me know and i'll try to re-work it as we go along. I just needed to get this part done and published so we can get to the Good Stuff.
> 
> It will probably be less and less directly quoting canon from here on out and more just "This is vaguely what sort of happened in the season" because while I like some of the ideas that are there, all the Mon-El stuff sucked and I don't want to re-watch all of season 2 for this fic. So we're going to do things out of order and My Way. 
> 
> Up next: we meet Lena Luthor, James and Kara keep trying (altho ultimately this is a Supercorp fic so keep that in mind...) and we reach the dreaded event of Man-Hell waking up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do any of you even remember what's happening in this fic anymore cuz I sure don't. If only the author would post more often *side-eyes self*
> 
> Anyway, work has me running ragged I'm hitting like 50 hours every week and literally all of my free time is spent sleeping, eating, or on tumblr I have had zero (0) energy. I've been working on this for weeks usually I write it all in one go but it took five or six separate sessions to finally get this all churned out. Once again, I'm super bad at staying in one tense so let me know if I missed any of that!

The office was pristine - white and modern and everything Kara was not expecting in an evil lair. 

Of course, it would be unfair to immediately assume Lena Luthor was evil, but with the way Clark said her name and the sneer he wore as he practically stormed into her office Kara couldn’t help feeling at least a little bit apprehensive.

Kara tried to listen to the conversation Clark and Miss Luthor were having, but she found herself more than a little overwhelmed. Something about this moment and this office felt… significant, somehow, and she couldn’t help but revel in that feeling. She tuned in just in time to hear Lena say, “Lucky is Superman saving the day.”

“Supergirl was there too!” Kara jumped in without thinking.

Lena whirled on her heels and sent a piercing glare her way. However, there was a hint of playfulness in her eyes and the slight upturn of her lips. “And who are you, exactly?”

Kara spluttered, trying to think of something that wasn’t  _ gosh, her eyes are so pretty,  _ or,  _ wow, that lipstick though.  _ “I’m Kara,” she finally managed. “Kara Danvers. I’m not with  _ The Planet  _ I’m with  _ CatCo Magazine.  _ Kind of.”

“That’s not a publication known for it’s hard hitting journalism; more like high-weisted jeans, yes or no?”

“Uh. I’m just- I’m just tagging along today.”  _ Smooth, Kara. _

“Right, right, can we just speed this interview along? Just ask me what you want to ask me Mr. Kent. Did I have anything to do with the Venture explosion yesterday?” Lena said bluntly.

“Did you?” Clark said.

“You wouldn’t be asking if my last name was Smith,” Lena said, looking Clark dead in the eye with no hint of guilt or fear in her face.

“Ah, but it’s not. It’s Luthor.”

“Some steel under that Kansas wheat,” Lena said smirking. “It wasn’t always.” She turned to Kara and they locked eyes. “I was adopted when I was four.” 

Kara felt a chill go through her, although she couldn’t explain why.

She and Clark took advantage of Lena turning to monologue facing the window and x-rayed the office for anything suspicious. Nothing turned up.

“I’m just trying to make a name for myself outside of my family,” Lena finally finished. “Can’t you understand that?”

“Yeah,” Kara said sincerely. 

“Here,” Lena handed Clark a flash drive. “This drive contains all the information we have on the oscillator. I hope it helps you in your investigation. I’m here for a fresh start, Mr. Kent. Let me have one?” She locked eyes with Kara again as she said it. In fact, when she wasn’t directly addressing Clark, she seemed to have a hard time keeping her eyes off of Kara. 

“Good day, Miss Luthor,” Clark said turning to leave.

Kara jumped when she felt Lena’s gaze bore into her again. “G-good day,” she stuttered out looking at the floor as she scurried out of the room.

\-----

Clark was still suspicious as they walked down the sidewalk. 

“I don’t know, I kind of believed her?”

“She’s a Luthor, Kara, we can’t trust anything she says.”

“You X-rayed the room too though, right? There wasn’t anything there. We should at least see what’s on that drive.”

“Ok, ok, you’re right.” He was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. “Ah, Lois. Gotta take this.”

Kara smiled as she listened in on the phone call.

“How do you do it all, Clark?” she asked after he had hung up. “You’re a great reporter, and amazing boyfriend, and” she glanced around to make sure no one was listening in. “And Superman. I mean, I love being Supergirl, that part of my life I have figured out, but the rest of it…”

“You mean, Jimmy?”  
  
Kara spluttered. “How, how did you know.”

“Super telepathy. You’ll get it when you’re older.”

“Really?” Kara’s eyes widened.

“No,” Clark said, winking. “Jimmy and I are friends. We talk.” 

“Oh,” Kara said, blushing. “It’s just… I have all these opportunities, an amazing guy, any job I want, and I’m stuck. I don’t know how to balance it all. You make it look so easy!”

“Well, it’s not. But with time and practice you’ll figure it out. And if it’s the right job, you’ll feel it, and when things are right with Jimmy - or whoever else you decide might be right - you’ll know. Trust yourself, ok? Being Supergirl is important, but being Kara is just as important, maybe even more.”  
  
“Thanks,” Kara said leaning forward to hug him. “That’s nice. It’s good having you here.” 

“It’s good to be here. I know I haven’t been there for you in the past as much as I should have, and I’m sorry. It’s nice to finally spend some real time with you.” 

\-----

Kara had just finished setting everything up when there was a knock on the door. 

“James, hi!” 

“You sound surprised to see me.”

“No! Of course not! Just, you’re a little early is all, which is fine! Everything is all ready.” She gestured to the living area. “We have popcorn and candy and drinks and scary movies and a comfy couch to cuddle on, and the perfect snuggle blanket, in my humble opinion.”

“Sounds like you have this all planned out,” James said, throwing an arm around her and guiding her to the couch. 

Kara snuggled back into him. “I just want one date to go perfectly, just one.”

“Kara?”

“Mmm?”

He tilted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. “You know I don’t care if things are perfect, right? That I just want to spend time with you?”

“I want to spend time with you too! Which is why I want it to be perfect!”

“It’s not always going to be perfect, but that’s ok. I need you to know that, ok?”

“Ok… Anyway, I picked some good movies we should start!”

She snuggled against his chest as he started the first movie and pulled the blanket across them.

 

They stopped cuddling twenty minutes into the first movie. It was hot and he was sweaty and he kept moving around just as she got comfortable. She thought she would feel safe with his arms around her but she just ended up feeling trapped. 

Halfway through the second movie he started nodding off. Kara nudged him awake with a gentle tap to his shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s ok. I’m pretty tired too,” Kara lied. “Maybe we should just call it a night?”

“Might be for the best. Goodnight, Kara.”

He stood up to leave and Kara followed him to the door, hovering awkwardly. She wasn’t sure if she should go for a kiss or let him make the first move. They ended up in an awkward half hug. 

“See you at work, yeah?” he said.

“Yeah, see ya,” she whispered. 

\---

Alex met her at Noonan’s for breakfast the next day. Kara was on her fifth sticky bun by the time Alex sat down.

“Wow. Rough night?”

“Ugh, Alex, you don’t even know.”

“What happened?” Alex took a bite of Kara’s sticky bun. She knew Kara must have had a rough time because she didn’t even notice. 

“James and I finally had an uninterrupted date.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Yes! Because it was still weird!”

“Weird how?”

“I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s just like everything feels so forced and awkward now, like there’s pressure that wasn’t there before. Like no matter what I do I’m doing it wrong.”

“I think you might be overthinking it, Kara. Just go with what feels right, you know?”

“I don’t know what feels right, that’s the problem. I thought this was what I wanted, but it just doesn’t feel perfect like I was expecting, you know?”

“Have you talked to James about this?”

“... no…” 

“Kara…”

“I know, I know. I just don’t want to ruin this for him. He’s happy.”

“Kara, he’s going to figure it out. You should talk to him.”

“Ok, ok I will.” 

“Communication is important.”

“It is. Thanks, Alex. You always know how to help.” 

Alex leaned over the table to draw Kara into an awkward hug. Their moment was interrupted by Alex’s phone ringing. 

“Danvers,” Alex answered. Kara took advantage of the momentary interruption to finish off her sticky bun. “Kara, we need to go,” Alex said while hanging up.

“What’s up?” Kara said with her cheeks puffing out.

“The explosion on the Venture wasn’t Lena Luthor’s fault. She was the target.”

\-----

Kara loved being Supergirl. She loved the rush of helping people, she loved the feeling of having a purpose, and most of all she loved the appreciation people showed her after she saved them. 

Saving Lena Luthor was no exception. The way her name rolled off Lena’s tongue, just a slight hint of an accent slipping through, had Kara suppressing a smile that would have been entirely inappropriate for the tense situation. Instead, ever one for the dramatic, Kara said in the gravest tone she could muster, “someone is trying to kill you.”

An expression of hurt and confusion passed over Lena’s face and Kara just wanted to scoop her up and hug her. Instead, she helped bring Lena to relative safety and sent her alter ego to keep an eye on the situation.

After debriefing with Superman and the DEO,  Kara went to LuthorCorp and hung around in the lobby, using her X-Ray vision to keep an eye on Lena. What she didn’t expect was for Lena herself to come up and talk to her as she left work.

“Hey, I know you. You’re Kara, right? Kara Danvers? With Cat-Co Magazine, sort of?”

“Heh, guilty as charged,” Kara said rubbing the back of her neck.

“What are you doing here?” Lena said raising an eyebrow.

“Oh. Um. You know just. Checking things out around here. I, uh, wanted to know more about what you were up to?” 

“Well, right now I’m heading to the courtyard for the renaming ceremony, perhaps you’d like to join me?”

Kara shrugged, nodded, and shoved her hands in her pockets as she fell into step beside Lena.

“You’re taking an awfully big risk, going ahead with the ceremony with your life in danger.”

“I won’t have a life if I can’t make this company into something positive. All I’ll be remembered for is Lex’s madness.” Her face fell as she surveyed the small crowd of people that had gathered. “My brother is serving 32 consecutive life sentences. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that there isn’t a bigger turn out.” 

Kara smiled grimly and laid a comforting hand on Lena’s bicep. Lena stared down at her arm, as if shocked someone was actually touching her. She quickly shook it off, gave Kara a curt nod, and climbed to the podium to begin her speech. 

Kara tried to listen to Lena’s speech, but was cut off by the crackling of her coms in her ear.

“I’m in the main plaza,” Alex’s voice came through. “No sign of Corbin.” 

“Keep looking,” J’onn said. “We know he’s there somewhere.”

Just as Kara was about to tune back in to Lena’s speech, an explosion rocked the stage. 

“I got eyes on Corbin!” Alex said. 

In a flash, Kara ducked into an alley to change into her Supergirl outfit. She hurried back to the scene only to be met with Corben holding a gun to her sister’s head.

She froze.

She could see Corbin’s lips moving, but couldn’t hear over the pounding of her heart in her ears.  _ Alex is in danger, Alex is in danger, Alex is in danger,  _ her brain repeated over and over. 

Before she knows it, Corbin is on the ground, blood soaking through his shirt over his chest, and Alex is speaking to her.

“-An ambulance. The bullet went all the way through we can still stop the bleeding.”

Right. She’s Supergirl. She saves lives. Even the lives of people who threatened her sister.

\----

“- And thank you for including that part about me shooting the guy. That’ll teach Lex to mess with me.”

“Well, I only wrote the truth,” Clark said, flashing his trademark smile.

“And what about you, Miss Danvers?” Lena said. She fixed Kara with that intense gaze of hers. “I didn’t see your name on the byline.”

Kara gaped at her openmouthed for a few seconds. “W-well like I said, I’m not a reporter.”   
“Well, you could have fooled me.” Lena smiled softly. “I hope this isn’t the last time we talk.”

Kara smiled in return. “I hope not either,” she said, and found herself truly meaning it. She ignored the baffled look Clark gave her as she turned to walk out of the office.

\---

“I want to be a reporter! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!”

“Oh, thank God, finally,” Cat said. She stalked behind her desk and opened a drawer pulling out a manilla envelope.

“Is that my resume? Why do you still have that?” 

“Take a look.” Cat handed her the paper. Written in big red letters and underlined twice was the word “reporter.” “When you walked into my office you had this look in your eyes and from that moment on I knew. I hired you on the spot and have been grooming you personally for this ever since. It’s time to take your big leap.”

“Wow, I- I don’t know what to say. When do I start? Where do I start?  _ How  _ do I start?”

“Breathe, Kara, we’ll go over this all tomorrow morning when I introduce you to your new boss. For now, just enjoy the moment and get some rest. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.”

Kara nodded and turned to walk away. She took two steps before spinning around and launching herself at Cat, pulling her into a hug. 

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Cat raised a hand as best she could with her arms pinned to her side and patted Kara’s back. “Alright, that’s quite enough of that.”

“Right, sorry,” Kara said. She pulled away and wiped a tear from her eye. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. First big day as a reporter!” 

\---

**_“Kara Zor-El. You are forgetting something very important. He will wake up soon; get rid of the problem before it arises.”_ **

\--

Kara woke up in a cold sweat. She quickly threw on her suit and flew to the DEO. Ignoring security and the questioning looks she was getting from the agents, she sped to the med bay where the strange man was still asleep.

“Good,” Kara muttered. “I won’t let you hurt anyone.” She turned away from him to try to find a shirt to put on him so she could pick him up and put him back in the pod without having to touch his skin too much. She was going to throw him back into space before he could wake up and cause any trouble. Just as she was about to step out of the door, an arm circled around her throat. 

“Hrk!” 

In one swift movement, the man grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the room. He stared at her with a feral look in his eyes before bolting out the door and into the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing all the delicious Supercorp content from 3.01 and not actually watching the episode so I can ignore anything else is great! 
> 
> Again, I'll try to post as often as I can but I don't foresee work slowing down any time soon. I've talked to my boss though so hopefully things will get better? 
> 
> We will almost definitely be taking a break for November because I'm going to attempt NaNo so most of my free time will be poured into that but I'll try to get at least one more chapter out before then. 
> 
> Let me know what you think about the James and Kara stuff? A lot of what happened in show with that reminded me of how I broke up with my boyfriend just because it "felt weird" and then subsequently realized I was a lesbian so I'm trying to draw on that while still keeping her in character (she's still a lesbian in character imo but that's a discourse for another time) and while doing justice to James cuz I like him a lot and the show did him so dirty. So let me know if that's coming through right and if not I'll try to tweak it. 
> 
> And just let me know your thoughts in general! Anyway this author's note is too long I blame alcohol. Love you all, hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait. I've been stuck on this chapter for like.... months. I'd like write a few sentences and delete two of them and write two more like every day/ week for months. BUT we finally got this part done and it'll start picking up next chapter. I apologize for the Terribleness of this chapter but I'm tired of looking at it so here you go

Kara sat up coughing as she tried to get air back into her lungs. She reached a hand up to the nearest table to try to pull herself up, but with a creak and groan the table bent around her hand.

Thankfully, Alex rushed in and helped Kara to her feet.

“Kara, what happened.”

“He- he woke up and then he just choked me and threw me to the ground and ran out the door. Did you catch him?”

“No, he got away from us too. Are you ok?”

“I’m fine just we have to get him, Alex.” Kara leaned against her sister still catching her breath.

“Hey, take it easy, ok? We’ll get him.” Alex rubbed Kara’s arm soothingly. “In the meantime go get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, ok.” Kara turned to pull her sister in for a hug. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

\-----

Kara did not sleep well that night. She tossed and turned, torn between wanting to sleep to be rested and wanting to be awake to avoid the mysterious voice haunting her dreams. When her alarm went off after having snoozed it for the third time, Kara thanked Rao that she didn’t need as much sleep as humans did. She would not have been able to function if she did.

As it was, Kara barely made it on time to the office. She was greeted by a very annoyed looking Cat Grant.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” Cat said with an icy sneer.

“I know, sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“I didn’t sleep at all last night, yet here I am.” Cat turned on her heels and waved over her shoulder for Kara to follow her. She led her to the bottom floor where a balding man was yelling at people who were scurrying around frantically.

“That’s your new boss, Snapper Carr. Good luck.” Cat walked away before Kara could say anything in response.

Kara walked up to the balding man with her hand raised in a tiny wave. He didn’t even look at her.

“Um, excuse me,” she said softly. 

Nothing.

“Excuse me?” she tried a bit louder. “I’m Kara Danvers, ex-assistant to Cat Grant and newly appointed reporter? I’m supposed to report to you now, I guess.”

“No you’re not,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away from her.

“Sorry?”

“You’re not a reporter and I’m not your boss. Now get out of here.”

“But, but that’s my job, my promotion, I chose it!”

“Real reporters get hired for telling stories or going to journalism school, not by sucking up to the CEO of the company. You’re not my employee, now leave before I call security.”

“Well that’s just- you- I- urgh!” Kara huffed and stomped away, ready to go give Cat a piece of her mind. Before she could make it to the elevator, however, her phone started ringing. It was the special ringtone she had set for the DEO.

“What’s up?”

“The president is flying into town today to announce the Alien Amnesty Act and she wants Supergirl to be there,” Alex said.

“The Pr- the president wants to meet Supergirl? That’s me!”

“I know,” Alex said. Kara could hear the smile in her voice. “So you better get down here for the debriefing.”

Kara was in her super suit and out the door before Alex could finish her sentence. 

\---

Supergirl bounced on her toes as she waited at the front of the crowd gathered around Air Force One. It was hard to tell who looked more excited: her or the gaggle of little girls lined up next to her. Supergirl couldn’t help but chatter excitedly with them.

“You mean you  _ know _ her?” one of the girls asked, eyes wide.

“Well, no, not yet. But I think we’ll be cool, you know?” 

She was interrupted by the door to the plane finally opening. Two men in fancy suits stepped out. Supergirl leaned closer to get a first look as the President herself started walking down the runway. The President smiled and waved at the crowd. She locked eyes with Supergirl and winked. Supergirl gasped and clutched her chest with a dreamy smile on her face. 

Just as she was about to reach the podium to give her speech, one of her bodyguards shouted, “Madam President, get down!”

Supergirl jumped in front of the President and lifted her cape to block the ball of fire headed her way. She turned around, eyes glowing ready to attack, when she realized her cape was on fire. Frowning, she spun around as fast as she could and let the lack of oxygen snuff out the fire.  _ There. Much better.  _

“Alex, did you see who did that?” Supergirl said frantically into her coms.

“No, but we’re going to run some tests on the ashes from the fire. In the meantime, will you help us get the President to safety.”

“It would be my honor,” she whispered reverently. She cleared her throat and lifted her hand to where the President sat on the ground, stunned. “Ma’am?” Supergirl said hesitantly. “It isn’t safe here.” Her voice grew more confident. “Come with me.” Before the President had a chance to answer, Supergirl had already scooped her up in her arms and was en route to the DEO. 

\---

“-And she was so nice, and pretty, and she called me Supergirl, and-” Kara rambled on to Alex about the president.

“Well, Supergirl is your name,” Alex said with a smirk. Kara didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah but it just sounds so cool when she says it.  _ Super _ girl. And she was so grateful and kind and good and gosh. How did anyone even vote for that other guy?”

Alex shrugged and tried not to snicker. 

“We have to figure out who’s after her, Alex, we  _ have _ to.”

“We will, you dork.”

Winn’s voice buzzing through their intercoms interrupts them. “Not sure if this is related to the thing with the president, but we found someone sending an unauthorized signal into space. I’ll send you the coordinates of where we think it’s coming from.”

“Thanks, Winn, we’ll head that way.” 

\---

The tracker led to a decommissioned NASA building just outside of National City. Due to budget cuts the building hadn’t been used in quite some time, but the power seemed to be on and a blue light was pulsing on the roof of the building. Kara shivered as she walked through the basement where the only unlocked door to the rest of the building was. 

“Winn, I don’t like this place,” she whispered into her comms.

“It’s fine, just get in, find out what’s sending that signal, and get out. Besides, at least it’s not another abandoned warehouse.”

“That’s true. I do get tired of abandoned warehouses.” 

Supergirl made her way to a room with a winding concrete staircase. Taking a deep breath, she lifted up and zoomed up through the middle space between the stairs. Thank god for flying. As she got closer to the top she started to hear a faint beeping sound. The sound grew louder when she came upon a door that said “R” on it. The blue light glowed from under the door. She lifted her foot and kicked it off its hinges.

A man was hunched over a keyboard in front of several huge monitors. “HEY!” Supergirl shouted as he turned around. It was the man who was in the crashed spaceship.

His eyes widened in panic as she walked towards him. He took several steps back, but before he could run Supergirl was blocking the door. She braced herself as he charged towards her head first with his arms outstretched. She grunted as his fists collided with her stomach, but she stood her ground. Using her superspeed she spun him around and wrenched his hands behind his back. 

“Nuh uh, you're coming with us and explaining why you tried to kill the president.” 

\---

Kara wanted to immediately interrogate him, but Alex insisted she needed some time to cool off. “You’re way too hot headed right now and we should give him some time to squirm anyway.”

So Kara stomped off to bother Winn, needing to do something. 

“Did you figure out where he was sending the signal?” Kara asked. 

“It looked like somewhere close to Krypton, actually. Or, well, where Krypton was,” Winn said. “We have the message recorded here but I can’t understand or recognize the language. Here, give it a listen and see if you recognize it.”   
Kara’s eyes darkened at the mention of Krypton. “I have a feeling I know who he is, but go ahead and play it, yeah.”

The speakers crackled to life. Kara tilted her head as she listened. “It sounds like a bastardized version of Kryptonese. The dialect they usually spoke on Daxam, I think he’s from there. Ugh, they’re the  _ worst _ .”

“I’ve never heard of Daxam,” Winn said spinning in his chair.

“They’re the worst,” Kara repeated. “They were party animals, never took responsibility for any of their actions, and the royal family was just….”

“The worst?” Winn provided.

Kara nodded. “The worst. They were awful. They owned slaves, Winn! And were always trying to blame Krypton for anything bad that happened to them, even when it was very clearly their own faults.”

Winn typed at his keyboard. “I’m not so sure his distress signal will have much luck, it looks like Daxam got knocked out of the sun’s orbit by Krypton’s explosion. Probably uninhabitable by this point.”

Kara hummed noncommittally as Alex walked up behind them.

“Any luck with the interrogation?” Kara asked. 

Alex shook her head. “Don’t think he understands English. He said some things that sort of sounded like Kryptonese, but it didn’t make sense with the grammar you taught me.”   
“Yeah, I think he’s from Daxam.”

“Ugh, that awful frat boy planet you were always comparing my ex boyfriends to?”

“The very same. They speak a sort of bastardized version of kryptonese. Basically, the whole language takes the bases of Kryptonese and makes it as lazy as possible. No class, really.”

“Mmmm and you have such class while shoving four potstickers in your mouth at a time.” 

“Hey, I happen to be perfectly classy when I put in the effort. But why would I when I can fit five potstickers in my mouth?” 

“Mmm. Anyway, do you want to come give a whack at it? Just don’t get too hostile too fast, we’re not even sure this guy actually did anything.”

Kara nodded and followed Alex out of the main room and down into the lower cells. She knew J’onn and Alex would have a problem keeping him locked up for too long without proof he had actually done anything wrong, but she’d rather avoid having a Daxamite wandering free around the world. 

When they walked into the interrogation room the man was pacing around the back wall. Kara almost wanted to ask why he wasn’t handcuffed to the table but also figured he’d be able to break anything they tied him down to if he really wanted to. The thought was not comforting.

“ _ Kryptonian _ ,” he spat as she walked into the room. She folded her arms and glared at him.

“ _ Daxamite _ ,” she replied.

“ _ I should have known a pretentious member of the ‘Noble House of El’ would lock an innocent man up,”  _ he said mockingly in his broken Kryptonese.

“ _ I hardly doubt you’re innocent,”  _ Kara said. “ _ Before you escaped you choked me and threw me across the room without a second thought.” _

_ “All reactionary, I assure you. I would have never knowingly touched a Kryptonian. Although, you are kind of cute…”  _ His stare went from menacing to suggestive and Kara had to fight the urge to curl in on herself and hide. 

She stood her ground and continued on, “ _ Why are you attacking people? Why did you attack the  _ president, erm,  _ our leader.”  _

“ _ I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  _

_ “Don’t try and deny it, Daxamite, I know what your people are like. You like to cause trouble for the sake of causing trouble.” _

The man crossed his arms and shook his head. “ _ You’re no better than us. You’re the ones who destroyed your planet with your greed.”  _

Kara felt her eyes heat up and had to take a deep breath to keep from frying his head off. “ _ I’ll be back, Daxamite, and we’ll see if you’re more talkative then.”  _ And with that she stomped out the door. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at [Red-K-Alex/a>](http://www.red-k-alex.tumblr.com)


End file.
